Gord Schreiner, chief of Comox Fire Rescue on Vancouver Island, talks about safety and training at the Maritime Fire Chiefs Association annual conference at the Pictou County Wellness Centre in New Glasgow on Monday. (FRANCIS CAMPBELL / Truro Bureau)

NEW GLASGOW — The old must yield to the new.

While Comox Fire Rescue Chief Gord Schreiner expounded on the necessity for change in modern-day fire departments, the evidence was parked at the front door.

The first gas-driven fire engine purchased by the Town of New Glasgow, a vintage 1917 LaFrance truck, stood by the entrance to the ultra-modern Pictou County Wellness Centre, the New Glasgow facility that opened its doors just 19 months ago.

“We need to change for a lot of reasons,” Schreiner told an audience of more than 100 firefighters at the Maritime Fire Chiefs Association annual conference.

“If you don’t like training or change, you’re in the wrong business.”

Schreiner said firefighters are using different equipment to fight different types of fires in different types of structures.

“Train as if your life depends on it,” he said. “It does.”

The 56-year-old has been part of the Comox, B.C., brigade for 39 years, the last 27 as its chief. Addressing the 47 line-of-duty deaths among North American firefighters already this year and 101 in 2013, he said leaders must stop bad things from happening.

In firefighting, that encompasses several things that include developing and following operational guidelines, leading by example, constant training, accepting change and speaking up about dangers.

“Get there safely,” he warned the roomful of Maritime firefighters. “We’re driving way too fast.”

With slide pictures of crashed fire trucks on the screen behind him, Schreiner explained that one fire engine crashes every day in North America. And many firefighters crash personal vehicles on the way to the firehall.

The average firefighter in North America lives less than four kilometres from the fire station, “so we’re not saving a lot of time by escalating speed.”

Instead, Schreiner said, save time by having done the proper training to get right to work when you reach the scene of the fire.

For him, it all comes down to training and safety.

“The dragons we are fighting today are different than the dragons we fought yesterday.”

The smoke is more toxic and deadly and the modern buildings are built lighter and burn faster and at higher temperatures, he said.

Schreiner said when arriving at the scene, the leader must quickly assess the situation for victim survivability. “Is there anyone in there and what are their chances of surviving? Do a risk assessment and develop a safe action plan.”

He said many brigades arrive back at the station and high-five one another after saving a building while risking their own lives. The next day, the insurance company hires an excavator to knock down the saved building, he said.

Always searching for innovative ways to do the job better and safer, he talked about painting fire engines black to make them more distinctive behind their flashing lights in daylight, different ways to hold ladders and using bigger and more powerful hoses.

“Stay off burning roofs,” Schreiner said, and have a local department recipe for each kind of fire.

But mostly it’s train, train, train.

“What makes us firefighters?”

Schreiner joked that despite the fact that firefighters are much better looking than the general public and they usually wear creative T-shirts, “it’s training that makes us firefighters.”

Don Heckman, a 35-year-member and now chief engineer of the Lunenburg and District Fire Department, agreed.

“He was very informative,” Heckman said. “He has some different philosophies. We all do a lot of training, but he really stresses it. He’s right. Training saves lives.”

More than 400 firefighters have registered for the four-day event that wraps up Wednesday and marks the 100th anniversary of the Maritime association. The firefighters trade show being held in conjunction with the conference has also welcomed hundreds of people.